At Death's Door He Walks With You
by MelonLordOfMelons
Summary: Harry thought saving the entire wizarding Britan meant actual recognition. He also thought collecting the Hallows would make him the Master of Death. Simply put both were just fairytales for kids. And Harry wasn't allowed to be a kid anymore. Beta will be lookluster.


No matter where he went in Brittan there were people. So many different people. Some were pleasant, some were annoying, and some were downright despicable. It almost seemed like everyone wanted something from him. Ginny wanted him to be HER hero (as did other girls but they were easier to avoid than the sister of his best friend), minister Fudge had wanted Harry to help with his election campaign as his poster boy (just to spite him he choose to push Susan Bones to compete and then openly supported her cause), then there were the people who wanted help selling things. After he indorsed the Weasly twin's joke shop their family had gotten enough money to be considered a true wizard family with their own mansion. Harry truly was happy to help the family that actually cared about him and even after the public endorsement died down no one asked him to do anything for the shop. Opposite of them were people like the aforementioned Fudge that truly only cared about his fame. People like that were always giving compliments, offering something, or constantly pestering him. At first he was high on fame and adored the attention, he felt like after years of being pushed under the rug or praised for something he didn't even remember doing, that he was getting actual recognition. He was wrong though. They didn't recognize him, not as a person anyway. He was seen as the Boy-Who-Lived-Twice. The twice savior of wizarding Britan. So many people sucked off his fame until he felt tired of it. Slowly he began to become even more reclusive. At first he stopped going to the wizarding side of the world for street shopping. They followed him though. Some dressed in muggle clothes, some using charms or such but they always found him. The worst was Rita Skeeter who had put an new column in her paper called the boy whose life we want to know about. Then he stopped going out unless it was to visit his friends or Teddy.

He had gotten so tired. He wanted to be away from the public life but then people began to fear his withdraw. Many people in the ministry feared his withdraw from society due to his power and the fact that he wielded the hallows. The newspapers insinuated he was being corrupted by the hallows or the fact that he had a lot of power. Then when the people he trusted started to doubt him he had felt hurt and started visiting them less and less. Besides Luna he started getting into fights. It could be because of all the stress or pushed down emotions welling up inside him but his biggest explosion was when Ron had insinuated that Harry would marry Ginny now because she was now eighteen and they waited for a long enough time. Harry felt disgusted that his friend would even think he was interested in the idolizing girl. Like their school days she believed she knew evrything about him from fake books and believed them before even asking. He hated that his best friend did that to him, made him angry enough to accidentally blow a hole through the wall injuring Hermione. Most of all he had hated himself. He felt dangerous and so he stayed away from everyone now choosing to get all he needs by wizarding mail with an address not linked to his family estates. When he longed for companionship he bought a baby owl and an adult Keazle. His wizard tower was furnished thanks to Luna who had, of course hung necklaces of screws on torches. Supprisingly though she kept the style similar to that of Hogwarts with red and gold being the primary colors. She of course did hang her own as window curtains throughout. The Ravenclaw colors proudly stood out.

The topmost part of the tower was the owlery for any letters that were sent to him (though he had to put wards preventing that after sent a few howlers yelling at him to come over so she could make sure he was eating well). Below that were five floors and a basement. There was also a greenhouse in the small clearing that surrounded the tower. The first floor below the greenhouse was the potion floor as Harry didn't use it to often to mind walking all the way up to it. The second floor was dedicated to the mass of books he seemed to have inherited (The ones from the Black line were put in their own section due to the nature of). The third floor was the bedroom floor. He had originally had two rooms besides his own for guests but the Keazle named Nekopara-Chan (By Forge) had taken one all to it's own. It didn't matter to Harry considering the only one to find his tower was Luna and he hadn't even told her where it was. He questioned her how but she only answered with the 'Nargles chased you away so I followed their trail'. Harry liked her visits but she was a bit too eccentric sometimes and ran circles around Harry with her secret meanings about her hidden world. Speaking of hidden world the newspaper just flew in the second story window carried by Helga the little barn owl. The little bugger had obviously missed a lesson from Gred about subtly and let go of the newspaper right into his breakfast which had been cereal so the pages got soggy.

After glaring at the sheepish offending owl and using a spell to dry the paper he read it. The headline already was a good indicator to what the quality of the story was. The tittle read 'Where is the wizarding world's savior?' in big bold letters with elegant text. He already knew where this could be going. Anticipating a long hard read he went to the library and found his favorite chair by the fireplace and in front of his desk to read. 'blahblahblah, how could he, who did we harass to find out, has the savior turned evil and attacked his friend'... wait. Of course the media would think that's what happened! Harry fumed. No matter what he did they would always find one action do define him even if he didn't even do it! Harry then asked himself why he kept reading the news when it was this stupid. Then he realized he was isolated and needed to keep up with information. He threw the paper into the fireplace and watched it burn.

"Accio coffee." Said Harry as his Christmas tree mug flew into his hand. He had charmed it with a non spilling spell and a warming spell so that when he sipped it, it was the right temperature. Taking a long sip he placed it in the corner of the desk. He folded his hands on the desk and began to think. He stared into the fire and continued to think as the flames danced. After a few minutes Neko jumped into his lap and purred as he pet her. Soon he began to feel drowsy so he folded his arms under his head and let the darkness whisk him away from his worries for now.

Harry found himself on a large mountain as the sun shone down upon it.. The snow that he stood on was thin and gave way for purple flowers to bloom and coat the crest in white and purple. The mountain was full of life in contrast to the vast sea of sand surrounding it. It seemed to expand for miles and never cease. The dunes of sand stood short of the mountain. It did seem like something he'd dream of, his own island away from all the peering eyes and cameras. After observing that they didn't seem dangerous Harry decided to pluck a flower from the ground and held it to his nose. It's smell instantly caused him to throw it down and back away towards the center of the peak where no flowers grew. The stench of decay and blood still filled his nose. He wanted to vomit, to wake up, anything to get him away from wherever this was. His eyes instantly drew towards the sea of sand. Looking towards the horizon he steeled his resolve and began to walk towards the edge of the summit. Before he could go more than a step the earth beneath him began to shake violently. To avoid falling over he went to his hands and knees and hoped the mountain wouldn't crumble. As soon as it died down he shakenly got to his feet.

He looked around and quickly noticed that the flowers had wilted and that the sand had turned red. The stench permeated in the air. He watched as the sand began to show a rift in the middle as if someone had begun to blow it away. The sand flew off to uncover large white things. He watched in horror as a large skeleton appeared with the symbol of the hallows carved on it's forehead.

"The fuck?!" **_Shouted_** Harry. He dumbly watched as it began to rise quite like a vampire would in those muggle films with it's bone arms crossed over it's chest. When it stood strait it's eye sockets grew darker until a faint red glow appeared inside. It's right arm reached out and grasped the left side of the mountain and the other followed on the other side of Harry.

" _ **Harry. Do you know what I am?"**_ Asked a dull, cold voice. It resonated somewhere behind him close to his left ear but he found he didn't have the will to turn around and look. Somewhere in watching he had fallen to his knees. He could barley bring forth enough will to talk.

"No." He said.

" _ **Harry I am an old friend. You have faced me many times."**_ The skeleton leaned in so that it's orbs were peaking over.

"I'm pretty sure I'd know if I met a giant skeleton." Harry said.

 _ **"I am no mere skeleton, Harry."**_ The right hand left the mountain to tap the hallows symbol on it's forehead. _**"I am the end."**_

"Death?" Asked Harry.

 _ **"I have been called so."**_ Death said as it's hand rested back on the mountain.

"Then where am I?" Asked Harry.

 ** _"Nowhere, the end, absence. the beginning. It matters not what it is called."_** Said Death.

"What am I?" Asked Harry. "Am I your master?" At this a gurgling laugh came. The skeleton leaned in so close that the forehead was a foot away from Harry with the eyes grinning at him.

 _ **"You are no master. Those items you were told gave you mastery over death are mine."**_ Harry once again felt dread seep into him.

"Then what am I?" He asked again.

 _ **"I will call you the no-master. Your life was chosen before you were even born, your fate ruled by destiny. You do not control anything, get rid of the illusion foolish no-master."**_

"The prophesy only told of me defeating Voldemort... it's over." He stood up defiantly, now he was three inches from the bone.

 _ **"You believe there is only one prophesy concerning you?"**_

 _ **"**_ WHAT?!" Screeched Harry.

 _ **"If you are unhappy then blame the first bearers of the hallows."**_ The skeleton retracted and stood up straight, bringing it's arms back to it's sides. **_"They are the ones who made this prophesy necessary. Had they not sealed me here."_** That's when Harry saw them, the large opaque chains wrapped around the bones so translucent they could hardly be seen.

"How dose one chain Death?" Asked Harry.

 ** _"A trivial question. You'd be better with a question like with what the other prophesy entails."_**

"I'm going to assume it tells that I need to break you out of those." He pointedly looked at the chains once more.

 ** _"The answer is a bit more complicated..."_** Death's jaw unhinged and a large swarm of bugs flew towards Harry who had to shield his eyes. When he opened them again he was in a large stone cavern with a single light ray from the middle shining down on something Harry was familiar.

"The veil..." He breathed out. The shimmering doorway between the two stones rippled restlessly almost like someone was banging on the other end.

 ** _"This door, you must open."_** The skeleton appeared from the shadows, now the size of Harry and walked towards the door. He stood before it an lifted a finger to trace the symbol of the hallows. **_"You now have the keys."_**

"What will I find on the other side?" Asked Harry as he backed away from it.

 ** _"Perhaps an old mutt. Perhaps something else."_** Said Death tauntingly.

"Perhaps I shouldn't. You want something, everyone wants something. The question is what would you have me look for?" Asked Harry.

 ** _"You will never know nor can you exactly understand what i'm looking for no-master. The question is what are YOU looking for?"_** Before he could think of an answer a fog entered the room obscuring his vision.  
His head lifted from his desk and a string of drool connected his mouth to the puddle on his paper. He needed to see Hermione. Badly.


End file.
